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Period: 700 BCE to 900 BCE
Early Beliefs
There isn't much data on the subject in the early civilizations, but in some early written texts state that men marry around thirty and wives should be five years past puberty. -
Period: Dec 24, 1200 to Dec 25, 1500
2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back
This period had the age of consent and marriage as 12 years old. Judges often performed marriages for persons as young as 7, though. -
Period: to
Gray Areas
The acceptable age of consent was between 10 and 12 years old. Again, there were marriages granted to persons as young as 9 years old.
This seems to be the practice throughout history. -
Period: to
Modern Changes
This is where the moral standards started to come into play. There were many new concepts burgeoning into societies. These concepts were childhood, and sexual abuse. Also, child mortality rates went down. -
Period: to
The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon
An expose on child abuse that raised the age of consent to 16 years old and strengthened prostitution laws. -
Period: to
The Current Age of Consent
Due to the changes in 1885 most states and some civilized countries have changed their age of consent to between 16-18 years old. There are some countries in the middle East that have no age limit only marital requirements.